‘Breaking Bad’: ‘An appropriate response’

This week’s episode was not quite as go-go-go eventful as the rest of the season has been, but it did fulfill a major objective: It put Walt and Jesse back on the same side. And, as I’m sure we all suspected, it took something big, dramatic and deadly (assuming that everything happened the way that Jesse believes it did) to do it.

The action started with Skyler frantically packing up to head over to Hank and Marie’s, where the entire family would be under the DEA’s protective custody, the result of last week’s call from Saul. Walt was supposed to go, too, but opted against it, telling Skyler that everyone would be safer if he — Gus’ actual target — was not there: “No one will be safe at Hank’s if I’m there,” he said, adding that he had created this entire situation through an array of bad choices: “I alone should suffer the consequences of those choices. And those consequences — they’re coming.”

He squared things with Hank by calling to tell him that he had a carwash to run, and so he couldn’t join the family. Hank sees the protective custody as an over-reaction tied to his investigation of Gus (which is sort-of true), so he didn’t hector Walt into coming over. (Marie, of course, was more of a problem, and made multiple phone calls to try to get him to join them at the house.)

Hank tells Steve Gomez about his theory that Gus is not what he appears to be, and that the industrial laundry is not what it appears to be, either. He also indulges in a little trash talk to motivate Gomez to take a look around at the laundry…which he does, turning up nothing suspicious, though he and another agent do have a drug-sniffing dog in tow. (Steve snaps photos of the place, which he passes on to Hank, who is disappointed to find nothing overtly suspicious.) Jesse and Tyrus waited out the search. The instant they got the call that the search was over, Jesse continued the cook that was halted when Gomez arrived.

Gus called Jesse, telling him that the search was prompted by “your former partner.” Jesse responded that he would not OK the implied solution to this problem: “If something final happens to Mr. White, we are going to have a problem.” Gus responded that there would be “an appropriate response,” though he would not elaborate.

After leaving the lab, Jesse called Walt, got voice mail and did not leave a message. When he listened to his own messages, he had a slew of them from Saul, requesting a meeting. Jesse went to Saul’s office, where security has been tightened and the whole joint was in disarray. Saul told him he was going underground, and wanted to return Jesse’s cash stash to him; he also asked Jesse if he’d put in a good word for Saul with Gus.

Jesse then gets a call from Andrea, who is in the ER with her son, who has falled gravely, weirdly ill. Jesse goes there immediately; when he isn’t permitted to see the boy himself, he steps outside for a cigarette…and discovers that the cigarette which contained the vial of poison created with Gus in mind was gone. He ran inside, told Andrea to tell the doctors that Brock had somehow consumed the poison. Then he went to confront Walt.

Walt was in full paranoid mode. He had a coffee table against the front door, a handgun on his person, all the curtains drawn and he jumped at every sound outside. He did let Jesse in, and told him about his trek to the desert with Gus, and Gus’ threat to kill his entire family, something that Jesse knew nothing about.

Jesse then accused Walt of poisoning Brock, and even aimed the gun at him. He told Walt that Saul must have somehow gotten the poison and slipped it to Brock on Walt’s command. Jesse eventually smacked Walt across the fact, knocking him to the ground.

Walt suggested to Jesse that Gus had poisoned Brock, knowing that Jesse would hold Walt responsible and would come and kill Walt, eliminating that particular problem quite neatly. Walt pointed out that Gus had had no problem involving children in his business before.

Walt also grabbed Jesse’s hand, pressing the gun against Walt’s own forehead, and saying, “Do it. Do it.”

Jesse didn’t. He said he would, however, find Gus and kill him. Walt told him he should just run.

Instead, Jesse went to see the apparently dying Brock, something he’d been trying to do for a while. The nurse once again turned him down, threatening to call security. Jesse slept in a hospital hallway, awakened by Tyrus, who came to take him to work. Jesse refused to go. Tyrus called Gus, who eventually arrived at the hospital to talk to Jesse face-to-face.

Meanwhile, Walt was making some sort of explosive in his kitchen, and was watching the hospital parking garage from a rooftop across the street when Gus arrived.

Gus met Jesse in the hospital chapel. Jesse told Gus that Brock had been poisoned; Gus had no overt reaction to that news, though he did ask how that had happened. Gus went into paternal employer mode, telling Jesse he should stay with Brock and deal with that situation, and could return to work the following week. He even gave him a little pat on the arm.

Gus, Tyrus and another goon headed to the garage. Something felt off to Gus. He stood, several yards from his car; he scanned the horizon; Walt watched from across the street, trying to will Gus to his car…but he couldn’t do it. Gus turned on his heel, returned to the elevator and never got close to whatever-the-hell-it-was that had awaited him at the car.

And that, campers, was it for this episode, the second-to-last in the season. What do you think is going to happen next week? Anybody want to predict who will still be standing at the end of the season? I’m guessing that something will happen that will bring Hank a step or two closer to proving his theory about Gus — what that will be, I have no idea. Post your comments and theories below, and let’s have a conversation about the show.